Jeff Bezos' net worth grew to over $100 billion after a Black Friday stock surge

• Alex Morrell
 

• Nov. 24, 2017, 1:19 PM
• 11,594
 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is close to becoming the world's first $100 billion man.David Ryder/Getty

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• Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' net worth has hit $100 billion.
• Retail stocks have surged after strong Black Friday sales figures, pushing Amazon stock to record highs and adding $1.7 billion to Bezos' fortune.
• He would be the first person in the modern era with a known fortune of $100 billion.

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Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, has a net worth of $100 billion after Black Friday buzz sent Amazon stock soaring to record highs.

Retail stocks are surging after Americans went crazy for Black Friday deals, spending about $1.5 billion online Thanksgiving evening.

Amazon gained 2.6% Friday to $1,186 a share, pushing his total fortune to over $100 billion, based on data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He is the first person in the modern era with a known fortune of $100 billion or more.

Bezos, Amazon's founder and CEO, owns 78.9 million shares of the tech and retailing giant, according to November filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a roughly 16% stake worth $93.6 billion.

His fortune stood at $97.9 billion after the last stock-market close on Wednesday, according to the Billionaires Index, which is updated at the close of every trading day in New York.

With Amazon up 2.6% Friday, the value of his stake in the company would have increased to $93.6 billion — a $2.4 billion jump since Wednesday.

In addition to his Amazon holdings and cash investments, Bezos owns a roughly $3 billion stake in rocket company Blue Origin, and he owns The Washington Post, which he paid $250 million for, according to Bloomberg.

Bezos eclipsed Bill Gates as the world's richest person in October.

It's difficult to compare the net worth of today's billionaires with tycoons of the past or of heads of state presumed to have shadowy but enormous fortunes.

Some surmise oil baron David Rockefeller was worth the equivalent of several hundred billionbased on the percentage of the economy he controlled, and Vladimir Putin is believed by some to secretly have similarly vast assets.

But Bezos is the first to reach $100 billion since organizations such as Forbes and Bloomberg began tracking the fortunes of the world's richest.

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AstraZeneca steps up China push with new drug joint venture

• Reuters

• Nov. 27, 2017, 2:07 AM
• 90
 

FILE PHOTO: The logo of AstraZeneca is seen on medication packages in a pharmacy in London Thomson Reuters

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - Drugmaker AstraZeneca plans to turbo-charge its already substantial Chinese business through a new drug development joint venture with a state-backed private equity fund.

The stand-alone business, Dizal Pharmaceutical, will be owned equally with the Chinese Future Industry Investment Fund (FIIF), which is part-owned by the China State Development & Investment Corporation, the companies said on Monday.

By getting into bed with a local player, AstraZeneca aims to ride a wave of regulatory reform in China's pharmaceuticals sector and get new drugs to market more quickly.

It dovetails with Beijing's desire to see more "discovered-in-China" drugs as the country targets life sciences for growth. The FIIF's remit in pharmaceuticals is to promote such local drug development and manufacturing.

China is now the world's second-largest drugs market after the United States, with more cases of cancer and diabetes than any other nation, creating a big opportunity for local and international drug companies.

Recently, the China Food and Drug Administration has taken steps to accelerate new drug approvals, while local funding agencies are also moving faster to agree payments for innovative drugs, albeit with some tough negotiations on pricing.

The reforms have triggered growing interest in China as a center for drug development, reflected in a wave of initial public offerings and licensing deals with foreign drug companies.

In the case of the new joint venture, Dizal will incorporate all the scientific and technical capacity of AstraZeneca's existing Innovation Center China (ICC) in Shanghai, including exclusive rights to three drugs in pre-clinical development.

Dizal's chief executive will be Xiaolin Zhang, previously head of the ICC, and all ICC staff have been invited to join the new company.

In exchange for the AstraZeneca assets, FIIF will provide development funding and expertise in establishing strategic partnerships in China. There are no upfront payments.

As and when new Dizal drugs reach the market, AstraZeneca is likely to receive income from the venture as a dividend, a company spokesman said.

China has been a bright spot for AstraZeneca as it struggles with patent losses on past blockbuster medicines and the country now accounts for 15 percent of group product sales -- a far higher proportion than at other big pharma companies. China sales were $2.14 billion in the first nine months of 2017.

The success is in contrast to British rival GlaxoSmithKline, which is still suffering falling Chinese sales after a bribery scandal that landed it with a record fine in 2014.

Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said AstraZeneca's new joint venture would reinforce its strong position in China, while also creating opportunities to supply future China-discovered drugs to international markets.

"We aim to accelerate the local discovery and development of innovative, affordable medicines for patients in China and around the world," he said.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Keith Weir)

More: Reuters

Smartphone shoppers help Black Friday online sales reach a record high

• Richa Naidu, Reuters

• Nov. 25, 2017, 4:25 PM
• 996
 

Black Friday shopping at Target. Adam Hunger/AP Images for Target

• Online sales on Black Friday and Thanksgiving this year hit an estimated $7.9 billion, a record high.
• Some 40% of Black Friday online sales were made through mobile devices, up from 29% last year, according to another estimate.
• Despite the surging web and mobile sales, traffic to brick-and-mortar stores was estimated to be down less than 1%.

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CHICAGO — Black Friday and Thanksgiving online sales in the United States surged to record highs as shoppers bagged deep discounts and bought more on their mobile devices, heralding a promising start to the key holiday season, according to retail analytics firms.

US retailers raked in a record $7.9 billion in online sales on Black Friday and Thanksgiving, up 17.9% from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, which measures transactions at the largest 100 US web retailers, on Saturday.

Adobe said Cyber Monday is expected to drive $6.6 billion in internet sales, which would make it the largest US online shopping day in history.

In the run-up to the holiday weekend, traditional retailers invested heavily in improving their websites and bulking up delivery options, preempting a decline in visits to brick-and-mortar stores. Several chains tightened store inventories as well, to ward off any post-holiday liquidation that would weigh on profits.

TVs, laptops, toys and gaming consoles - particularly the PlayStation 4 - were among the most heavily discounted and the biggest sellers, according to retail analysts and consultants.

Commerce marketing firm Criteo said 40% of Black Friday online purchases were made on mobile phones, up from 29% last year.

No brick-and-mortar sales data for Thanksgiving or Black Friday was immediately available, but Reuters reporters and industry analysts noted anecdotal signs of muted activity - fewer cars in mall parking lots, shoppers leaving stores without purchases in hand.

Stores offered heavy discounts, creative gimmicks and free gifts to draw bargain hunters out of their homes, but some shoppers said they were just browsing the merchandise, reserving their cash for internet purchases. There was little evidence of the delirious shopper frenzy customary of Black Fridays from past years.

However, retail research firm ShopperTrak said store traffic fell less than 1% on Black Friday, bucking industry predictions of a sharper decline.

"There has been a significant amount of debate surrounding the shifting importance of brick-and-mortar retail," Brian Field, ShopperTrak's senior director of advisory services, said.

"The fact that shopper visits remained intact on Black Friday illustrates that physical retail is still highly relevant and when done right, it is profitable."

The National Retail Federation (NRF), which had predicted strong holiday sales helped by rising consumer confidence, said on Friday that fair weather across much of the nation had also helped draw shoppers into stores.

The NRF, whose overall industry sales data is closely watched each year, is scheduled to release Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales numbers on Tuesday.

US consumer confidence has been strengthening over this past year, due to a labor market that is churning out jobs, rising home prices and stock markets that are hovering at record highs.

SEE ALSO: Amazon seizes half of all online Black Friday sales in an 'eye-popping' show of dominance

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More: Reuters Black Friday Holiday Shopping Mobile Commerce 

BLACK FRIDAY NIGHTMARE: Furious customers are complaining that Macy's won't let them pay as system glitches

• Kate Taylor
 

• Nov. 24, 2017, 6:13 PM
• 39,469
 

Eric Thayer/Reuters

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• Macy's customers are saying the retailer's credit card system has crashed in locations across the US on Black Friday.
• Problems seem to have started around noon, and customers continued to report issues throughout Friday afternoon. 
• Macy's said in a statement that it was "taking longer than usual to process some credit and gift cards in our stores."

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Customers are complaining about Macy's credit card systems failing across the country on Black Friday.

"Macys credit card system down nationwide," Kenn White tweeted at 1:29 p.m. ET on Friday. "They are not informing shoppers standing in long lines. Getting ugly out there."

Many other people reported similar problems on social media.

Twitter

The issues appear to have begun around noon ET. Three hours later, many people were reporting that Macy's locations were still unable to process gift cards and credit cards and that customers could pay only in cash.

Twitter AbbeyCrews

"All the credit card machines at Macy's broke down fifteen minutes before the door busters expired, and I think I've now witnessed hell," one Macy's shopper tweeted.

Twitter RudyKCTV5

"Came to the Macy's on State for some Black Friday shopping and all of the registers are down," says one of the several angry comments on Macy's Facebook page. "No credit or debit, only cash! Wasted time picking things out only to leave empty handed with all my merchandise at the register."

"It is taking longer than usual to process some credit and gift cards in our stores, but we have added additional associates to the floor and are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," Macy's said in a statement.

Customers continued to report payment issues throughout Friday afternoon. At around 6 p.m. ET, the retailer said it had "fully resolved today's system issues." 

"The delays we experienced this afternoon were due to a capacity-related issue that caused some transactions to take longer to process," Macy's said in a statment. "We do not anticipate any additional delays." 

Some Bloomingdale's shoppers appear to be having similar issues. Bloomingdale's did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Twitter shoedesign1

Some people are also saying they're having issues with Macy's website and app. There have been multiple reports of the site being down, according to CurrentlyDown.com, which tracks website outages.

Twitter

A Macy's representative told Business Insider that both Macy's and Bloomingdale's websites were up and running.

Earlier in the day, Macy's had reported a successful Black Friday so far.

CEO Jeff Gennette told CNBC that the company had seen "very robust online demand." According to Gennette, the company improved over last year's Black Friday but had a lot of work to do to post a good holiday quarter.

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